The Israeli forward spoke with Frankie Sachs ahead of the EuroCup Semifinals
Tomer Ginat: 'This is where Hapoel Tel Aviv needs to be'
Interviews
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The 20th of June, 2022 was a turning point for Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv. Because that is the day that Tomer Ginat returned to the club.
He had already spent four seasons with Hapoel, which Ginat first joined when he was 21 years old, and was twice named to the All-Israeli League First Team before deciding to test himself abroad.
Ginat helped French side Boulogne Metropolitans 92 reach the EuroCup Quarterfinals twice in as many seasons before rejoining Hapoel. At the time, Hapoel was a sleeping giant that had never played in the EuroCup before.
Now, falling in the quarterfinals twice more, Hapoel and Ginat are semifinalists for the first time and they head into their best-of-three series against Valencia Basket with confidence, as the 30-year-old told Frankie Sachs of the official EuroCup website.
It’s been a very eventful season for Hapoel. Do you feel that the team is entering the semifinals in its best shape?
"It's been a very long season because we aren't playing home games at home and we are hosting games in Bulgaria. We've had to fly every week. We've been traveling a lot. I think we're reaching the semifinals in great shape. We've won seven straight games in all competitions. We have another league game on Saturday night, but we're heading into the semifinals very determined. Reaching the EuroCup Semifinals is a great achievement for us, and we aren't planning to stop there. We're arriving in good shape and with the team we have and the talent we have, we can do anything."
Valencia has been the strongest team in the EuroCup this season. What impresses you the most about their game?
"I think Valencia may be the strongest team in the EuroCup and they proved it all season. They play a very pretty brand of basketball. They play together. They shoot a lot of three-pointers. They've made the most threes in the competition for sure. They play fast, a high pace, and they score a lot of points. We will have to know how to be there to stop that. We have to play at our pace. We all have to be very aggressive on defense, rebound, and play our game."
There seems to be a belief that pace will be decisive in this series and that if Valencia is able to run, it will be hard for Hapoel to keep up. Do you agree and feel that it will be important for you to slow the game down?
"Absolutely. I think the pace they play at is very special and it characterizes them. They punish almost every mistake. They have a lot of offensive tools and we will have to slow the game down to play our style and that will be one of the keys to the series."
Hapoel showed how deep it is in the quarterfinals against Turk Telekom with Oz Blayzer and Guy Palatin – two players not well known outside of Israel – seeing meaningful fourth-quarter minutes. How important is that depth at this part of the season?
"Valencia is a very deep team, but I think we are also a very deep team. We have a lot of talented players, foreign players and Israelis. Every day we can lean on a different player, and every day a different player can have a meaningful role such as the names you mentioned or any other player. Throughout the season, some have played more and some have played less, but we have a lot of tools and we come to this series with a lot of confidence and our depth is something that I believe will help us. In every game, we have 12 players who can contribute and be the X-factor in a game."
You have known Yam Madar since he was 17 years old. After playing for three EuroLeague clubs, he returned to Hapoel this season to become a lead guard. In what ways has he grown as a player from his time abroad?
"I think Yam was an amazing player and with great potential already when he was 17. I played with him, I saw the potential and I knew what could become. The things he did at Partizan, at Fenerbahce, at Bayern Munich were amazing. He learned a lot from great coaches. I think the biggest difference in the Yam that I remember from age 17 to today is in terms of leadership. He is someone who you can always count on, he's never afraid to take the ball at the end of a game, he always wants to be there in the decisive moments and to carry the team with him and he is totally one of our leaders."
What has it been like playing for coach Dimitris Itoudis?
"First of all, it's a great honor. Dimitris is one of the best coaches in Europe. To be able to learn from him every day is a great privilege. The things that he demands and the way that he demands them never allow you to rest. He is always there to be critical when necessary, to compliment when necessary. It’s a privilege to learn from such a coach and it's our privilege that he is our coach."
What has Coach Itoudis brought to your game?
"From the moment he arrived, he put an emphasis on our defensive game as a team and on my individual defense. Under him, I have learned how much it takes to play for a coach like him and to put more emphasis on the defensive end than on offense. And I think that the way he demands from you to play has caused me to play smarter, better and be more aware."
Three years ago, when you came back from France and turned down an offer from Maccabi in order to return to Hapoel, were you able to imagine the team in the EuroCup Semifinals and fighting for a spot in the EuroLeague?
"Totally, yes. I returned here because I saw the direction that the club wanted to go in. In the last two seasons, we lost in the quarterfinals in two close games, first at Badalona on the road and last year against Besiktas in a game where we led by a lot and at the end it got away from us. So it closes a circle for the club to finally reach the semifinal after two years where we failed in the quarterfinals. And this is where Hapoel Tel Aviv needs to be. Hapoel Tel Aviv strives for even higher than that and we are doing everything that we can to be there."
Hapoel has an incredible fan base, which has crisscrossed Europe these past two seasons to support the team. Even though they don’t show up in the same numbers as they would in Tel Aviv, what does their support mean to the team?
"It’s inconceivable. For 18 weeks, we flew to play almost everywhere in Europe and there was not a single game that we were without a group of our fans. It's a great honor to play for a club that has such a large community standing behind it, supporting it. What we saw in our last game, the quarterfinal game in Bulgaria, was amazing. They created a home-court atmosphere. And as I said, it is a great privilege to play for such a club and it completely helps us and brings energy and desire to make them happy.
"Over the last two years, we've been talking about it quite a bit since the war started on October 7 [2023], basketball has taken on a much greater meaning, because our country has been going through something very sad. The Hapoel Tel Aviv community is a community that was very much affected by the October 7 attack. There are a lot of our fans who were killed, who were taken hostage. And now playing basketball to represent this community, this country, is a huge privilege. If we manage to make people who have been through these things happy, then we've done our part, and I hope that we'll be able to do it next week in the semifinals."
The other semifinal series features two teams you played in the regular season, Dreamland Gran Canaria against Bahcesehir. Who do you expect will win and reach the finals?
"We are trying to focus on ourselves. The second semifinal is between two excellent teams, that like you said, we played against them. What's most important to us is to do our job. We have a very, very big challenge next week with two games in the series against Valencia. And we will need to be at our best to win this series. I really hope that we will be able to do it, rise to the challenge and reach the finals against whoever it will be, Gran Canaria or Bahcesehir."